I'd love to get to quail hunt down here. They are delicious and I've heard they are fun to hunt, I'd like to get to eat some that I've gotten myself

What would you think price per bird would be?

Hello :
a friendly reminder:
MY wild rio grande turkeys residing on your land would not be pleased with an exotic intruder occupying their space and eating their food that's naturally distributed for turkey. potential disease introductions is not appreciated also.

How can we be sure that these California exiles aren't just bringing their problems with them that they voted for that made their own state uninhabitable?

I would be in for 100 chicks. I may try and find an incubator and see if I can get some eggs from the hatchery you talked about as well.

I'm tired of having bird dogs and no birds.

Do you just release the chicks as soon as you get them and hope for the best?

My dad has a huge incubator we used for quail and pheasant before. I may have to get it down and see how it is working reading all this. This is very intriguing.

WaldoWings said:

---

Jay Reimenschneider said:

---

I love quail, but let me go on the record that these quail don't live here for a reason. I dont know that reason, but they don't.

Translation: don't **** with nature

---

Well I know what you mean, but I disagree. I believe if we want wildlife for our grandkids to hunt we will have to be forward-thinking. Look at the ringneck pheasant - a formerly Chinese bird. Now the prize of the plains! Btw, I called my local wildlife biologist and asked about the legality of this. He said this bird is not regulated by TPWD, so there is nothing illegal about releasing them. He did say that we have to consider what happens and what is affected when we bring in a new species. I am not too concerned with that because I believe the ship has sailed for the bobs, sadly.

---

I recommend speaking with your local game warden. There are conditions and requirements to do such legally with the ability to hunt.

Back in the 70s, wild pheasants were trapped in the Sacramento valley rice country and brought to Se Tx. In a stocking program by tpwd. The idea was to get them where they thrived in Rice country and transport them to rice country in Texas. The wild birds lived and reproduced for decades. We even had a pheasant season for the wild birds in Jefferson, Chambers, and surrounding counties. I haven't seen any wild birds around here in the last 15 years but there could be some in certain areas.

This same area in SeTx also had some of the best quail hunting in Texas thru the 70s before the Bobs started to disappear. They are completely gone in my area now also.

I lived in Wharton county and was young at the time. I remember the season and actually going with my dad and grandpa hunting them. We got a few. We still saw some at times in the late 80's at the end of turn rows while driving tractor, etc.. through crop fields.

Mas89 said:

---

Back in the 70s, wild pheasants were trapped in the Sacramento valley rice country and brought to Se Tx. In a stocking program by tpwd. The idea was to get them where they thrived in Rice country and transport them to rice country in Texas. The wild birds lived and reproduced for decades. We even had a pheasant season for the wild birds in Jefferson, Chambers, and surrounding counties. I haven't seen any wild birds around here in the last 15 years but there could be some in certain areas.

This same area in SeTx also had some of the best quail hunting in Texas thru the 70s before the Bobs started to disappear. They are completely gone in my area now also.

---

Farther east and not a huge population but there's been a lot of work done to improve quail populations and there's enough in the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana to make it worthwhile to hunt quail there. The numbers are down a bit this year vs. last year but still decent numbers of wild birds.

I wonder if an initiative to do likewise could be successful in all the national forest and refuges in East Texas. There's vast swaths of timber can never really be encroached upon that once held lots of quail that seem to be virtually gone these days.

Great thread. I would love to see some of these birds running around our place in the hill country.

Does California have fire ants?

We had fireant problems with out chicks. We put them in a brooder in what I would call a supersized rabbit cage on 44's. We ended up having to put the 4x4's of this cage and all other like in 1 gallon paint cans filled with oil. Then the only problem we had were chicken or rat snakes every once in a while.

What's the word on releasing these super quail willy-nilly into our Texas landscapes?

CanyonAg77 said:

---

.Are there any regulations about releasing non-native birds?

---

The regulations for releasing non-native birds are actually less restrictive than the native ones. At least for quail.

I would like to purchase some to release when they are big enough if you have any for sale.

WaldoWings said:

---

ShackelfordAg99 said:

---

CanyonAg77 said:

---

.Are there any regulations about releasing non-native birds?

---

The regulations for releasing non-native birds are actually less restrictive than the native ones. At least for quail.

---

Agreed. And it's not like I am releasing warthogs in south texas or pythons in florida. I'm trying to follow the path set out by Dr. Reyna of the Texas A&M University system and replace something that any outdoorsman or old person will tell you how much they miss - the bobwhite quail, which was likely pushed out by non-native fire ants and overpopulating non-native human beings and their destructive ways. I would bet my life savings that bobs are not coming back. And tell me a species of any of the animals you loved growing up that is thriving now. Even the poor monarch butterfly is taking hell. I just hate that we don't have quail to hunt and enjoy any more. All of these animals that you once saw but rarely do - I hate the thought of them being gone, so I want to help do something about it, even it it's not replacing exactly what was lost but finding a sufficient fill in.

---

I'm torn on this. I get and appreciate the concept. Just not convinced it makes sense.

One of the best parts of our trip to Kinds Canyon and Sequoia National parks was staying at a house in the foothills between the parks and the lake and watching the quail and turkeys in large numbers roaming around. My personal experience is I'm not sure man has made a single decision yet when it comes to nature that hasn't had unintended negative consequences. No matter if it was for the right reasons in mind.

Are you doing any type of predator control?